Letter stop



June 8, 1943. L. F. MCFARLANE ElAL' 2,321,405

LETTER STOP Filed March 11, 1941 ,4, Q es ATTORN EY Patented June 8, 1943 LETTER STOP Leroy F. McFarlane, Arlington; Va., and William A. Keyes, Memphis, Tenn., assignors to Pitney- Bowes Postage Meter (30., Stamford, Conn., a corporation of Delaware Application March 11, 1941, Serial No. 382,686

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a letter stop which is used to correctly position a letter with relation to a printing die before the start of a printing cycle of operation in a postage printing machine.

The device of this invention is particularly adapted for use on a printing drum of a metered mailing machine of the hand crank operated type. In such a machine the common practice has been to align the leading edge of a letter with a line which is scored on the letter feed relation to the scored line.

the leading edge of the letter.

the machine.

leading edge of a letter.

wardly within the drum.

deflected sidewardly.

plate, but owing to carelessness of operators, the in; letters are very seldom positioned correctly with Fig. 1 is a front view of a printing drum with The result of this a letter stop thereon, and includes a letter feed carelessness is inaccuracy in printing, with the plate with a letter engaging the letter stop; impression either tt far bac f om the ge 13 Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along of the letter or running ofi the edge of the letter. the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

To overcome this situation, it is proposed to Fig. 3 is an enlargedview showing a pendant p ovi a p nt m ber on the printing drum and support, and further'shows the angular moin such manner that it will project into the path tion of the pendant; of a letter when the machine is at rest. When Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, showing the the machine is to be operated, a letter is moved longitudinal movement of the pendant within its forward on the letter feed plate until the leading support; v edge thereof engages the pendant. Upon rota- Fig. 5 is a further enlarged perspective view of tion of the crank, the printing drum is rotated the pendant and support, and end the Printing die pon en a e t Fig. 6 shows a fragmentary portion of a letter will place the impression in correct relation to with a printed stamp thereon,

Referring to the drawing in detail, the essen- According to the particular construction of the tial parts of a printing machine which have a mounting for the p means s P ovi bearing upon the present invention are shown wh y h said P n P i n y move and include a printing drum I!) having a printing w v, if, p n hin the u l v lution of die ll thereon, a letter feed plate l2 and side moveme t of t d the end of the Pendent guide l3, also an impression roller M, which strikes the end of an unusually l n l tt w h cooperates with the printing die in effecting a has not entirely passed beneath the drum strucri ting operation, ture- The Pendant is also adapted to be rocked A sleeve I5 has its outer wall threaded as at wa y when pl ng a tape attac 1 0 I 6 and is adapted to be screwed within the lower For in o m on C ce the end of the printing drum ID, as indicated in Fig. p o machine o Which e device of this 2. By means of a set screw 9, the sleeve is fixed vention is intended, also the tape attachment in an adjusted position. Said sleeve l5 further note above, attention is called to Patent 40 includes a bore [1 which terminates a predetermined distance above the bottom of the sleeve t is the principal Object of this iIlVeIltiOn to form a seat It, and a diametrically disposed therefore, to Provide a flexible letter stop on slot I9 is cut through the lower end of the sleeve th printin dru of a ta y p n machine IE to a distance slightly above the seat It. and include means whe y e p s main- A pendant, generally indicated at 2|, comtained in a rigid position when engaged by the prises a shank portion 22 having a ball shaped head 23, and is adapted to be inserted in the It is another object to provide a flexible letter bore H in such manner that the shank portion stop for a printing drum which may move inthereof will project below the slotted end [9.

After inserting the pendant in the sleeve, the

It is a further object to provide a flexible letter upper end is peened over, as indicated at 24, to stop on a printing drum which is adapted to be prevent the pendant from sliding through the entrance end after it is once assembled.

With the above and other objects in view. By means of the slotted end [9, and the seat- Which will appear as the description pr to the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that various changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing. from the spiritof the invention.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, whereing of the head 23 within the seat I8, the said pendant is adapted to have angular movement, as indicated by the positions shown in Fig. 3. Rearward angular movement of the pendant, such as disclosed in full lines Fig. 3, is effected when the tape attachment, disclosed in Patent 1,958,355, is attached to the machine, and forward angular movement, such as disclosed in the swing of the pendant to the right of Fig. 3, is efiected when the tape attachment is removed from the machine.

When placing a letter L in a printing position, it is moved rearwardly against the guide walls I3 and forwardly from the left to the right along the feed plate I2, as viewed from Fig. l, to engage the pendant 2i. Upon contact of the edge of the letter with the pendant, the said pendant being in a rigid state owing to the position of the shank portion 22 between the walls of the slot 19, the letter will become fixed with relation to said pendant and will be in the correct position to receive an impression from the printing die H. When the drum [0 is rotated, the printing die .II will engage the letter and effect the feed of the letter while printing, the further feed of the letter after printing being provided by means of a knurled flange 25 on the printing drum. A letter printed in accordance with the above named method will have a stamp 26 correctly placed thereon as shown in Fig. 6.

Ordinarily the letter will have been printed and ejected from the machine before the pendant again reaches its home position. Occasionally however, the letter may be of such length that the end thereof will not have passed completely beyond the printing position before the pendant approaches same. When this occurs, the end of the pendant will engage the letter, as indicated in Fig. 4, and the ball portion thereof will be moved upward within the bore l1.

It will be seen therefore, that in addition to acting in the capacity of a letter stop, the pendant 2| is also flexible for movement in both an angular and longitudinal direction.

It will be further seen that the use of such a device in the manner described, produces an letter feed plate; of a pendant depending down wardly from the drum and capable of rocking and longitudinal movement, and means to block rocking movement of the pendant when a letter is moved into engagement with the pendant during the placing of the letter in a printing position on the letter feed plate.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination with a rotary printing drum; of a pendant, a supporting sleeve mounted within the drum and having the lower end thereof projecting from'the lower surface of the drum, said pendant comprising a shank having a ball shaped head supported within said sleeve with the shank end projecting from the lower end thereof, means whereby said projecting shank may move angularly, and means whereby angular motion of the shank is obstructed in one direction.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination with a rotary printing drum; of a pendant, a supporting sleeve mounted within the drum and having the lower end thereof projecting from the lower surface of the drum, said pendant comprising a shank having a ball shaped head supported within said sleeve'with the shank end projecting, said sleeve having a diametrically disposed slot in the lower end thereof, whereby said projecting shank may move angularly, and means including one wall of said slot, whereby angular motion of the shank is obstructed in one direction. V

' r EROY F. McFARLANE.

WILLIAM A. KEYES. 

